Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1887-03-25

GOALS, COKE AND ORES OF
SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA.

PRors. McCnEArH AND p'INvILL1ERs.
Fuel .Siqply.-The coke for fur
y .naces 10 S. w. Virginia will be en-
tire.y drawn from the Flat-Top field
On JANUARY l, 1887, the daily pro-
dnction of coal from the great
Pocahontas or No. 3 bed was about
$500 tons net. The coke produced
either by the S. w. Virginia I'm
provement Company or from indi
vidual lessees Of the BlueStone Coal
Company amounted to G0,000 tons
in 1886. Two hundred (2oO) ovens
supplied the coke, although the
rapid development Of the business
has called for the erection of 1890
more, already contracted for, and
to be ready for operation during
the coming year
In the purity and general excel
lence Of it's coke and the chcapness
with which the raw coal is mined,
Virginia is well in advance Of either
Alabama or Tennessee so that
there is no question that up to this
time that the Cripple Creek furnaces
could have supply of coke uneX
cclle,l by the product Of either Of
those States. The distance to point
OF consumption is greater than for
the furnaces in either of those dis
tricts we have taken for compari-
son but the natural advantages
rninngat Pocahontas must count
for something in the long run, and
it is quite probable that to-day, the
cost OF Il ton of coke, considering It's
cJanics duty, would be no greater
delivered ut The tunnelhead at Cen
trail or Pulaski than it is at Chatta
nooga or birmingham.
The quality of this Virginia coal
and coke is already well know, aud
its reputation established by prac
tical Use in the Roanoke aud Lynch
burg furnaces and at various found.
SS9,s i'll the South.
however, to make the compare
son more compile, 3 analyses of coke
from saNpleS taken from the Flat
Top coal Ned are submitted, Tex.
hibiting Med carbon, in first
% PAS, in sctYnd 81 80, and in the
third % SIG, Nth only five to ski
tenthS sulphur
IL is unnecessary to- comment
upon the quality of coke showing
over % per cent. oStiAed carbon,
and with such a low percentage Of
sulphur: and its Nurlen bearing
qualities in the furnace have al
ready established it in The, list Of
lirst,class furnace fuels. A;ye coke
is now delivered on board cars ut
the mines at Sl.75 per ton. The
No. 3 Or Pocohontas coal bed Of the
Flat Top field is advantageously
situated for mining abave water
level through IL large arca.>y'elding
about 10000 tons per acre. from Il
he'd 10 to - feet thick in sqcf}'
portions Of the field split into
distinct workable seams, an iS$sS!!d-
ing about 0 feet of coal. LIS fayo.
@bie position, not requiring pump
ing,and the ease with which it can be
worked, renders it an exceedingly
cheap fuel as compared with the
Chattanooga and Alabama districts;
and the quantity of this excellent
coal is so great as to assure Il future
cpke-suppIy.
LimeStono.-Thc tluX for the Vir.
ginia furnaces would all be derived
from the purer portions of the
CnmbrO Silurian limestone forma
nation No. IL, here again present
ing contrast to the Chattanooga
and Birmingham districts, which
largely, if not entirely, Use the
mountain limestone of the Sub
carbOniferous formation. There
seems to be an abundance OF good
furnance-stone in immediate prox
unity to any furnance sites in the
Cripple Creek region and it is safe
to assume that the item of ilux in
Virginia will count for little, both
on account of the abundance of
+ limestone and the comparatively
small amount required to hux the
ores and fi,el.ash.